In case you skimmed over the latest issue of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s Library News and missed the piece on BT & Co.’s long running partnership with the Friends of the Library, we’ve included it below for your reading pleasure.

How do you sell more than 100,000 items in 3 days—you have really good people at checkout! When the Friends of the Library annual Book Sale began in 1970, William F. Hardesty, the Friends’ first president of the board, volunteered his CPA firm to be the cashiers. Over the years, the CPA firm has undergone several name changes from Hardesty & Batz to the current Berberich Trahan & Co. (BT & Co.). For the past 46 years, the employees of BT & Co. have continued to cashier at the annual Book Sale. “The Friends book sale is overall a great activity for us as a firm to get out there and be a part of local community activities!” said Kyle George.

Matt Deutsch, said the best part of volunteering is “people's surprise when they find out how little they owe for all the books they got.”

“The look of joy on the children’s face when they get to take home books of their own,” is Cheryl Hayward’s favorite part of the volunteering at the sale.

“I am blown away by the commitment the employees of BT 8C Co. have shown to promoting literacy in our community,” said Mary Campbell, Friends of the Library executive. “They grasp that literacy is a survival skill. We appreciate our relationship with them and are proud to call them friends.”

“We have done this for so long, we can’t imagine not doing it,” said Lisa Kongs. “It has become a family affair for us.” She added that sometimes spouses and even their children help at the sale.

While BT & Co. staff spend much of the sale volunteering, they usually find a little time to do some shopping of their own. No one leaves the sale empty handed and at least one BT & Co. staffer often leaves with 15 to 20 books.

“One year there was a pile of short romance novels written in Spanish,” Hayward said. “I bought them all for my daughter to share with her friends in Spanish class to enhance their Spanish reading skills.”

The library book sale is a fun and rewarding event that wouldn’t happen without the time and dedication of the many Friends of the Library volunteers. We thank the employees of BT & Co. as well as our many community volunteers for their commitment to the library and their hard work every year.

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